Candied scores a sweet victory in the Darley Alcibiades (Courtney Snow/Past The Wire)
Keeneland Barn Notes
LEXINGTON, Ky.— Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ undefeated Candied, who arrived at Keeneland Tuesday from Saratoga, remained on the grounds Saturday morning following her 1-length victory in Friday’s Darley Alcibiades (G1).
With the victory, the first for trainer Todd Pletcher in the race, Candied earned a fees-paid berth into the $2 million NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) to be run at Santa Anita on Nov. 3.
Pletcher was at Churchill Downs Saturday morning overseeing his string there.
Five fillies have won the Darley Alcibiades and then gone on to win the Breeders’ Cup with the most recent coming last year when Wonder Wheel achieved the double.
Plans for V V’s Dream, who just missed giving trainer Kenny McPeek a record-tying sixth Darley Alcibiades victory, are undecided.
Greg Tramontin’s Alys Beach, who set the pace and wound up third, remained at Keeneland after the race.
“She is still here and will go back to Churchill Downs, and we will go from there,” trainer Tom Amoss said. “I was surprised where she was (in the race). She is still learning.”
Trainer John Ortiz said “the Breeders’ Cup is not out of the question” for WSS Racing’s Brightwork, who finished fifth after stalking the pace set by Alys Beach.
The setback was the first in five races for the previously undefeated Brightwork, who won the Spinaway (G1) at Saratoga in her previous start.
“She’s doing good this morning, a little tired,” Ortiz said. “It was not her day yesterday. She was a little flat down the stretch, and that’s not like her.”
Buchu, the last-to-first winner of Friday’s Jessamine (G2) Presented by Keeneland November, “is looking well this morning,” trainer Phil Bauer reported from Churchill Downs.
Last in the field of 11 going into the first turn, Buchu collared pacesetter Bella Haze near the eighth pole and drew off for a 3¾-length victory under Martin Garcia. The victory earned Buchu a fees-paid entry into the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) to be run at Santa Anita on Nov. 3.
Bred and owned by Rigney Racing, Buchu has won two of five races and would represent the second Breeders’ Cup starter for her trainer.
“Right now, nothing is set in stone for the next three weeks,” Bauer said of Buchu’s schedule leading up to the Breeders’ Cup.
Two Jessamine winners have gone on to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf: Aunt Pearl (IRE) here in 2020 and Rushing Fall in 2017 at Del Mar.
Dream Team One Racing Stable’s Hoist the Gold returned to Churchill Downs Friday evening after his victory in the Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (G2).
With the victory, Hoist the Gold earned a fees-paid berth into the $2 million Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) to be run Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.
“He came back great,” said trainer Dallas Stewart, a two-time Breeders’ Cup winner. “The flight (to California) is the 30th.”
Two winners of the Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix have gone on to win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in the same year: Runhappy here in 2015 and Work All Week in 2014 at Santa Anita.
